A recent study showed that India`s recent push toward digital currency combined with cheap mobile tariffs may turn the country in one of the biggest market for smartphones.

In November 2016, India made a controversial step away from paper cash following government`s demonetization policy. As a result, 86% of all Indian paper money became obsolete.

The reform was said to be a government`s way to tackle money laundering and hoarding. It has also reportedly led to increasing interest in Bitcoin.

“The rise of digital currency is bringing a new use case for smartphones, which, in turn, is set to trigger higher demands for smartphones. This opens the opportunity for service providers to launch mobile wallet solution or even vendors to launch their exclusive mobile payment solutions like Android Pay or Apple Pay to build an ecosystem.”, according to the research company Gartner.

“With the slowdown in sales in major markets, including the U.S., China and mature Western Europe, India represents the largest opportunity because it is the second-largest mobile phone market after China.”, commented Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner as quoted by gartner.com.

“With an exclusive focus on the market from the device manufacturers, we expect more customized smartphones to come to market and remain key to win in this highly competitive market.”, he explained further.

Earlier this year, the research arm of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India`s central bank, has tested blockchain solutions for core banking processes in India. As reported by the media, researchers have said that blockchain technology has “matured enough” to be the core technology that is going to support the digitalization of India`s fiat currency, the rupee.